Dr. Judy Illes interviewed by NUTV on Wuensche Memorial Lecture, women in neuroscience, and the importance of neuroethics

Dr. Judy Illes, principal investigator of NeuroDevNet’s neuroethics group gave the Ninth Annual Margarete Wuensche Memorial Lecture on Neuroscience and Society June 26th in Calgary. Dr. Illes and her talk, “Neuroscience Ethics and You,” were profiled on air a week later by NUTV, a University of Calgary-based public access broadcaster that provides U of C students with the opportunity to participate in television production.

In the exchange, Dr. Illes emphasized the importance of neuroethics to all of us, speaking as the field does to life and death decisions, the availability of cognition-enhancing drugs, and ever-advancing technologies with real-life applications.

Dr. Illes described a new research interest inspired by her Calgary visit: examining the proximity of young brain researchers to the diseases that they’re actually studying.

The interview touched on another pillar and passion in Dr. Illes work as a neuroethicist and neuroscientist: women in neuroscience. “It’s been such a focus for me, formally for 10-11 years,” she said, adding that excellent mentorship in the workplace, and an excellent partner at home are essentials for a woman to succeed in the field. “With those two components,” said Dr. Illes, “all bets are off.”